Daily Archives: March 19, 2014

Europe’s response to the Crimean crisis
Ben Hall is joined by Peter Spiegel, Brussels bureau chief and Neil Buckley, East Europe editor to discuss Europe’s response to Russia’s summary annexation of Crimea, the first such grab for sovereign territory by a European nation since the second world war. President Vladimir Putin’s move has prompted outrage in European capitals, and the muscular tone of his speech to the Duma on Tuesday will have triggered some alarm about Russian intentions. But Europe’s response so far seems timid, as governments weigh their economic interests with standing up to Russian aggression.

Royal Malaysian air force navigator Captain Izam Fareq Hassan during a search and rescue operation

By Amie Tsang and Mark Odell

The jetliner that went missing on March 8 has proved to be a Rorschach test for air safety fears and concerns. The lack of intelligence means the investigation now spans oceans measuring 2.2m square nautical miles and land roughly equal to two-thirds of the landmass of continental US. However, the insatiable appetite for the latest news on the mystery, not to mention the fact that 239 people remain missing, has elicited theories that range from glorifying the heroic pilot to suspecting him of terrorism. Read more

All this talk of fascism: the most abused and overused word in the political dictionary is once again being royally abused and overused.

For weeks, Russian propaganda has portrayed the protesters in the Kiev Maidan as fascist, along with the interim government, and most of western Ukraine. Now Oleksander Turchynov, Ukraine’s interim president, has returned the compliment – and called Russian president Vladimir Putin a fascist.Read more

The World

with Gideon Rachman

About this blog

About Gideon

Blog guide

Gideon Rachman is away until September 1st, working on a special project.

Gideon became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections.

His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation